Auto shows are built around what’s new: fresh designs, new technology, the next big idea waiting just around the corner. But every great car show also remembers where it all began. The machines that shaped generations, filled driveways with pride, and turned ordinary roads into places of imagination. At this year’s show, that sense of history is front and center, reminding visitors that today’s breakthroughs are rooted in yesterday’s legends.
This year, that connection is on full display the moment you walk through the doors. In the Rotunda, two extraordinary vehicles stand as “Modern Classics,” both graciously loaned from the Jon & Jackie Hodges Collection. Inside, the Classic Corral continues the story with a broader lineup of memorable machines, including another Hodges Collection highlight: a beautifully preserved 1958 Chevy Apache. These vehicles form a bridge between eras, craftsmanship meeting performance and nostalgia meeting innovation.
Modern Classics in the Rotunda
The Rotunda display focuses on two cars that already command respect among collectors and enthusiasts alike. These aren’t museum pieces locked in the past. They represent modern engineering at its most ambitious.
The first is the 2021 Ford GT Liquid Carbon Edition. Limited to roughly 30 examples worldwide, this is one of the rarest American supercars ever produced. What draws people in immediately is the finish. Instead of traditional paint, this GT wears exposed carbon fiber sealed beneath a clear coat, allowing the weave itself to become the design.
Its structural beauty is on display, purposeful and striking from every angle. Underneath, the GT delivers the performance to match its presence. A mid-mounted 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 sends 660 horsepower through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. It’s a reminder that American engineering belongs in the same conversation as the world’s most elite performance cars.
Sharing the Rotunda is a very different kind of statement piece: the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD. If the GT is about precision and scarcity, the GTD is about pushing a familiar icon to its absolute limit. This is the most powerful production Mustang ever built, producing 815 horsepower from a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 and capable of reaching 202 mph.
The GTD’s mission was clear from the start, build a road-legal Mustang that could compete on the world’s toughest tracks. With a rear-mounted transaxle, near-perfect weight distribution, active aerodynamics, and carbon-ceramic brakes, it delivers performance usually associated with European exotics. Its sub-seven-minute Nürburgring lap time confirms it. Seeing the GTD in person reveals just how far the Mustang name has evolved—without losing its soul.
The Classic Corral: Icons That Endure
Beyond the Rotunda, the Classic Corral invites you to slow down and appreciate the vehicles that defined entire eras of American driving. This is where memory and emotion take the wheel.
Among the highlights is the 1958 Chevy Apache from the Hodges Collection, a truck that represents the golden age of honest, hardworking design. It shares space with a wide range of classics, each telling a different story. A 1958 Brookwood Station Wagon captures the optimism of postwar family travel. A 1956 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible embodies mid-century luxury at its most confident and glamorous.
Performance fans will gravitate toward a 1974 Firebird Formula 400 and a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am—two cars forever tied to muscle car culture and late-night boulevard runs. There’s also a 2014 Shelby GT500 Super Snake, proof that raw power has always had a place in American performance. Rounding out the display are a 1930 Ford Model A, representing the earliest days of mass motoring, and a rugged 1967 Chevy 4×4 truck, built for work long before trucks became lifestyle statements.
These vehicles remind us why car shows matter. They’re not just about what’s next. They’re about continuity, passion, and the stories we carry with us. Before you head toward the newest reveals on the show floor, take time in the Rotunda and the Classic Corral. These cars have already earned their place, and they’re still speaking to anyone willing to stop and listen.
The Unofficial Ambassador for the State of Texas
